Mariners, Braves swing and miss at trading deadline
Posted: Friday August 01, 2003 11:17 AM
Aaron Boone won't be joining his brother in Seattle. AP
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Extra-inning victories by the Reds, including Thursday's 5-4 defeat of the Rockies. No other club has more than seven.
Bob Uecker jokes from his Hall of Fame speech Sunday:
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"[It] tied me with another sports great, averaging .200 or better for a 10-year period: Don Carter, one of our top bowlers."
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"In 1967, I set a major league record for passed balls -- and I did that without playing every game."
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"I'd take [my children] to a game and they'd want to come home with a different player."
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"I had a great shoe contract and glove contract with a company who paid me a lot of money never to be seen using their stuff."
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"I'd be sitting there and [Gene Mauch] would say, 'Grab a bat and stop this rally.'"
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"I still, and this is not sour grapes by any means, think I should have gone in as a player."
By Jacob Luft, SI.com
Of all the moves made by Thursday's trade deadline, the riskiest deals might have been the ones that weren't made.
While the Yankees, Giants, Red Sox and A's were filling obvious needs, other contenders missed out on opportunities to improve.
The biggest loser of the day was Seattle. In what is becoming an annual tradition, the Mariners' front office did nothing to get better. As much as it wanted to upgrade from the hapless Jeff Cirillo at third base, Seattle was reportedly spurned by Cincinnati in its pursuit of Aaron Boone. The All-Star third baseman ended up going to the Yankees.
This is nothing new for Seattle. Last season, the big deadline acquisition was left-handed reliever Doug Creek. A club that was tied for first place as late as Aug. 22 ended up 10 games out. In 2001, the M's stood pat on their way to 116 wins. In 2000, they brought in the mighty Al Martin. None of those promising seasons ended with a trip to the World Series. And should they get to the Series this year, the lack of another big bat will put them in a severe disadvantage in games without the DH because Edgar Martinez will be reduced to a pinch-hitting role.
Similarly, there is a good chance the Braves will regret passing on an ace like Sidney Ponson. The Orioles sent him to the Giants, who are on a collision course to meet the Braves in the NLCS. Atlanta can win as many regular-season games as it wants. It can go 115-47 and score 2,000 runs for all anybody cares.
But if the Braves have to use a walking can of gasoline like Mike Hampton for a first- or second-round playoff start, they are in serious trouble. Even if they go with a three-man rotation -- which backfired against the Giants last year -- their No. 3 starter will be inconsistent rookie Horacio Ramirez (4.33 ERA, 1.44 WHIP).
Astros ace Roy Oswalt might be out for the season with a groin injury, making Houston's two-game lead in the NL Central tenuous at best. Did they get any help for the stretch run? Nope. But neither did the second-place Cardinals, who are a mediocre 56-52 despite scoring the second-most runs in the NL (605). The door is suddenly wide open for the Cubs, who brought in Kenny Lofton just in time to replace the injured Corey Patterson.
The Phillies have a small herd of NL clubs on their heels for the wild-card spot, but the best they could do for a shaky bullpen was bring in "All-Star" Mike Williams and his 6.54 ERA from Pittsburgh.
With so many teams still in the playoff race, this year's trade deadline proved to be somewhat of a litmus test for organizations. Do they really want to win? And if so, how badly? Enough to mortgage potential future stars like Kurt Ainsworth and Brandon Claussen? Are they cheapskates? (Ahem, Cincinnati, ahem.) Are they playing for the long haul? Is it better to stay the course, keep aiming for the playoffs and filling up stadiums like Turner Field and Safeco Field year after year?
As the trade deadline came and went Thursday, the field of contenders were clearly split between two camps: the bold and the timid. We'll see if fortune favors the bold.
This week's topic: Rebuilding teams that did well for themselves this week.
1. Baltimore Orioles. This is an organization that was rated dead last in talent by Baseball America heading into this season. But the O's did something about it by moving Sidney Ponson in his walk year for three young, quality arms in Damian Moss, Kurt Ainsworth and minor leaguer Ryan Hannaman.
2. Cincinnati Reds. They had to swallow a ton of pride by having a fire sale in the first year of a new ballpark, but the Reds had zero arms to go along with all those bats. The first step was canning GM Jim Bowden, whose infatuation with toolsy outfielders resulted in clumsy rosters that left manager Bob Boone hamstrung. Prospects like Brandon Claussen, Aaron Harang, Phillip Dumatrait, Charlie Manning and Joe Valentine provide an instant infusion of badly needed pitching talent.
3. Pittsburgh Pirates. GM Dave Littlefield is setting a trend by picking free agents like Kenny Lofton and Jeff Suppan off the scrap heap and flipping them for talent before the deadline. Considering they got these guys for nothing, what he has gotten in return (Freddy Sanchez, Matt Bruback, unloading Aramis Ramirez's contract) is like found money.
Welcome to the world of alternate photo captions:
Former BoSox GM Dan Duquette stars in Damn Yankees. Look for him soon in No, No, Nanette.AP
Don't let the '86 Mets get anywhere near the chalk line. AP
Kevin Brown
The Dodgers' offense is a disgrace. Kevin Brown is 0-4 in his past six starts despite an ERA of 2.43. In a five-game stretch this week, their run production was binary code: 1,1,0,1,0. And they actually won two of those games! That is how good the pitching has been. ... Whatever is afflicting L.A., it seems to have infected Arizona as well. The D'backs scored a total of five runs while losing three straight to the Marlins this week and haven't scored more than four runs in a game since July 18. ... Edgardo Alfonzo's grand slam Wednesday against the Cubs was his first home run since May 16. ... Can anybody explain Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller's season? He's already reached a career high in home runs (13) and is closing in on his top RBI total as well. His OPS is a robust .986, nearly 200 points higher than his previous best in a full season.
Former BoSox GM Dan Duquette stars in Damn Yankees. Look for him soon in No, No, Nanette.
Don't let the '86 Mets get anywhere near the chalk line. 
